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Use of the EPA Stormwater Management Model (SWMM) for Diagnosis of Pesticide Off-Target Movement from Residential Areas

Dec 21, 2011

Co-authored by Stone's Michael Winchell, this article is available as an ACS Symposium series eBook.

ABSTRACT

The goal of this work was to determine if the SWMM model could be used to understand off-site pesticide loss from a housing development. The causes of unintentional exposures can often be difficult to determine, and therefore, hampers stewardship efforts. We used the model in an effort to discover which conditions are most likely to contribute to pesticide micro-constituents being found in storm drain water samples. Modeling results agreed with a University of California Cooperative Extension study that indicated inadvertent applications to impervious surfaces contributed the greatest mass loss. One conclusion from this work is that the use of a model such as SWMM can be helpful as a diagnostic tool for determining factors that contribute to pesticide loss from residential areas. A series of mitigation management practices could be developed based on this effort.